National Universities Commission (NUC) disclosed, yesterday, that the Nigerian university system had continued to grapple with challenges militating against its optimal performance.
While identifying inadequate funding, infrastructure deficit, brain-drain syndrome, poor remuneration, and insecurity, among other issues, as factors affecting universities in the country, the regulatory body advised that NUC law should be reviewed and strengthened.
Speaking through the Deputy Executive Secretary (Academics), Dr Noel Saliu, during the Seventh Annual Registry Lecture of Elizade University, the commission disclosed that amid the challenges, university education in Nigeria had, no doubt, contributed to national and global development.
Saliu, who delivered a lecture tagged ‘The Nigerian University System and its Many Challenges: The Way Forward,’ said: “In NUC’s bid to continue to carry out its mandates in line with the laws establishing it, the commission has been confronted with some antagonism that was possible because of some loopholes in its laws.
“In discharging the regulatory functions of an organisation like the NUC, there are bound to be some challenges with respect to non-compliance with existing regulations. Such is the case with some private universities. In the case of some older universities, the NUC had to contend with the problem of over-enrollment.
“Indisputably, the NUC is facing multifaceted challenges, including inadequate funding, an infrastructure deficit, a staffing deficit, including the brain drain syndrome, poor remuneration, an inability to prioritise curriculum re-engineering and relevance, insecurity, a governance and administration crisis, poor research and development, and weak university-industry linkages and collaboration.”
In his remarks, the former Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Adebisi Balogun, faulted President Tinubu for reviewing members of the governing council of the universities barely one year after the dissolution of the former board.
Registrar of Elizade University, Omololu Adegbenro, said the lecture series, which started in 2016, was aimed at creating a suitable avenue for discussion on matters about the university system and its administration, especially the roles of the registry in achieving a versatile university system with global best practices.
